What Options Are Out There for Automated Wafer-Level Testing in Optical Transceiver Manufacturing?

At a glance

Automated wafer-level testing for optical transceivers divides into optical coupling approach, alignment method, insertion point coverage and the measurement scope each system supports.
Alignment method separates the options: active alignment searches for optical feedback at every device, while passive alignment uses calibrated geometry and wafer registration.
Per InZiv, its intended coverage spans insertion points 1, 2 and 3: wafer testing before and after bonding, then individual dies after dicing.
Glide-SiPh PIC handles production pass/fail sorting; Omni-SiPh LightView maps where light is lost inside a working circuit.
Both silicon photonics systems are available to order, and InZiv's production track record comes from microLED electroluminescence testing.

InZiv

Published: 2026-11-01

The main options for automated wafer-level testing in optical transceiver manufacturing are active-alignment wafer probers, polymer-lens fiber arrays, an in-house probe station with a hexapod, pass/fail testing at the ports, and passive-alignment systems such as InZiv's Glide-SiPh PIC. The choice depends on how light is coupled into the device (edge coupling through a trench or grating coupling through the surface), how the optical probe is aligned (active alignment, which uses measured optical feedback, or passive alignment, which uses calibrated geometry and wafer registration), which test insertion points must be covered, and whether the job is production pass/fail sorting or failure analysis.

InZiv, founded in Jerusalem in 2018 according to its About page, builds wafer-level silicon photonics testing systems and develops the prober, the probe card and the optical fiber array unit (FAU) in-house. InZiv received the International Innovator Award at NextRise 2026, held at COEX in Seoul on June 18 to 19, 2026. Its two silicon photonics systems are available to order. Glide-SiPh PIC is an automated tester that checks photonic integrated circuits (PICs) for optical and electrical function while they are still on the wafer, and it aligns passively in seconds per device. Omni-SiPh LightView uses near-field optical probes to map light propagation and optical loss inside a working circuit, for analysis in process development and NPI.

What makes automated wafer-level testing of optical transceivers different from electrical-only wafer test?

Automated wafer-level testing of optical transceivers differs from electrical-only wafer test because light has to be coupled into and out of the device while the electrical probe card still handles electrical contact. A few terms set up the rest of the article.

Photonic integrated circuit (PIC): a chip containing interconnected optical components, such as waveguide sections, bends, splitters and couplers.
Electronic integrated circuit (EIC): the chip that provides electronic functions such as driving or receiving signals from a PIC.
Fiber array unit (FAU): a component holding multiple optical fibers for coupling light into or out of a device; an optical probe may incorporate an FAU and additional optics.
Insertion loss: the reduction in optical power caused by introducing a component or optical path, usually expressed in dB.
Active alignment: alignment that uses measured optical feedback to find or maintain coupling.
Passive alignment: optical positioning using calibrated geometry and registration, without an optical-feedback search at each device.

The ATE (automated test equipment) supplies electrical stimulus and measurement functions within the test configuration. It comes from the customer's ATE supplier, while InZiv's integrated scope is the prober, the probe card and the optical FAU.

Which test stages and insertion points should automated wafer-level testing cover?

Automated wafer-level testing for optical transceivers is organized by test stages called insertion points. Because numbering differs between sources, each stage is named in words next to its number.

Insertion point 1, wafer testing before bonding: the separate wafers are tested before they are joined.
Insertion point 2, wafer testing after bonding: the bonded PIC, EIC and CMOS wafers are tested as a stack.
Insertion point 3, testing of individual dies after wafer dicing: individual dies, such as optical engines, are tested after singulation.
Insertion point 4, packaged co-packaged optics (CPO) modules: testing of the finished co-packaged module is outside InZiv's fit today.

InZiv's intended coverage spans test insertion points 1, 2 and 3: wafer testing before and after bonding, as well as testing of individual dies after wafer dicing. Within that scope, a known-good die is a die that has passed specified tests, within the coverage and limits of those tests. InZiv's suitability for a given flow depends on device access, measurement requirements, demonstrated performance and the customer's qualification schedule.

What automated and semi-automated approaches are available for wafer-level optical test today?

The automated and semi-automated approaches available for wafer-level optical test each have strengths that InZiv itself lists. Useful criteria come from the reasons teams reconsider a setup: whether alignment consumes too much of the device-test cycle, whether the optical probe can reach the coupling interface, whether coupling variation makes device results hard to interpret, and whether production volumes outgrow the setup's automation or throughput. In every approach, the customer's existing ATE remains part of the test configuration.

Approach	How alignment works	Strengths
Active-alignment wafer probers	Measured optical feedback to find or maintain coupling	Large installed base, long photonics assembly and alignment heritage, single-sided silicon photonics systems already partly deployed, double-sided systems available today, probe-card scale, global service, established ATE integrations
Polymer-lens fiber arrays	-	Scale, a global supply chain, qualification with test-system integrators
In-house probe station with a hexapod	Active search per device, slow but tolerable at R&D or pilot volume	Already paid for, flexible for one-off experiments, familiar to its engineers, fine at low volume
Pass/fail testing at the ports	-	Costs nothing, changes nothing in the flow, good enough while volumes and yields are acceptable
Passive alignment (InZiv Glide-SiPh PIC)	Calibrated geometry and wafer registration, without an optical-feedback search at each device	Alignment in seconds per device; FAU rests on the wafer, keeping coupling stable and repeatable

In Glide-SiPh PIC, the FAU is calibrated on a jig and placed on the wafer using fiducials. Glide-SiPh PIC is available to order.

How do bonded PIC and EIC stacks and double-sided probing change the test setup?

Bonded PIC and EIC stacks change the test setup because the optical and electrical interfaces of the device under test may no longer sit on the same face. The PIC holds the optical components, and the EIC provides electronic functions such as driving or receiving its signals. Single-sided testing accesses the device from one side; double-sided testing accesses it from opposite sides, depending on where its optical and electrical interfaces are.

Optical access to such a device can come through edge couplers, which couple light through the edge of a chip or an exposed facet within a wafer trench, or through grating couplers, which couple light through the surface. Trench width, depth and probe reach must be specified separately for each design.

InZiv's role here is its intended coverage: wafer testing before and after bonding, followed by testing of individual dies after wafer dicing.

Which InZiv systems address wafer-level and die-level optical transceiver testing?

InZiv's systems for wafer-level and die-level optical transceiver testing divide the work: Glide-SiPh PIC is built for production testing and Omni-SiPh LightView for analysis. High-throughput pass/fail sorting at volume is the job of Glide-SiPh PIC, and imaging light inside the circuit and identifying the root cause of a failure are the job of Omni-SiPh LightView. Both are available to order.

What are Glide-SiPh PIC's key attributes?

Function: an automated tester that checks PICs for optical and electrical function while they are still on the wafer, designed for high-volume production test; its first use with a customer may be during the NPI ramp.
Alignment method: passive placement using fiducials, with no hexapod, no iterative tuning and no optical recalibration between cycles.
Optical interface: a patented deep-trench FAU, a monolithic fiber array unit that supports a pitch down to 30 µm and handles both edge-coupled and grating-coupled devices. The glass FAU rests on the wafer and reaches into trenches as narrow as 30 µm wide.
Wafer and data scope: per InZiv's Glide-SiPh PIC product page, the system tests 200 mm and 300 mm wafers, is FOUP compatible, and automates wafer loading, alignment, probe engagement and stepping, with multichannel optical and electrical characterization, optical insertion loss per channel, full-wafer functional pass/fail testing and wafer-level yield and uniformity mapping.
Out of scope: packaged modules, co-packaged optics assemblies and process parameters such as film thickness or critical dimensions.

What are Omni-SiPh LightView's key attributes?

Function: near-field optical probes map light propagation and optical loss inside a working silicon photonics circuit, at wafer and die level, without damaging the device.
Coupling and measurements: edge and grating coupling, with electro-optical measurements such as IV, LIV and wavelength.
Probe options: near-field, deep-trench and angled probes, with custom probe designs for specific customer architectures.
Where it is used: process development and NPI, including design validation, debugging yield problems and offline failure analysis.

By pinpointing the location of optical loss or design deviation on the actual device, Omni-SiPh LightView is designed to reduce iteration cycles from weeks to hours.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does automated wafer-level testing cover in optical transceiver manufacturing?

Automated wafer-level testing checks optical and electrical function while devices are still on the wafer. InZiv's intended coverage spans test insertion points 1, 2 and 3: wafer testing before bonding, wafer testing after bonding, and testing of individual dies after wafer dicing. Testing of the finished co-packaged module, an architecture that integrates optical engines with a compute or switch device in a common package, is outside InZiv's fit today.

How does passive alignment differ from an active fiber search?

Active alignment uses measured optical feedback to find coupling on every device. Passive alignment positions the optical probe from calibrated geometry and registration instead. Glide-SiPh PIC aligns passively, so alignment takes seconds per device, with no hexapod, no iterative tuning and no optical recalibration between cycles.

When does an existing probe station with a hexapod still make sense?

An in-house probe station with a hexapod is already paid for, flexible for one-off experiments, familiar to its engineers and fine at low volume, where an active search per device is slow but tolerable. Teams reconsider when:

alignment consumes too much of the device-test cycle;
the optical probe cannot reach the coupling interface;
coupling variation makes device results hard to interpret;
production volumes outgrow the setup's automation or throughput;
maintaining a custom system consumes too much engineering;
a yield problem appears that port data cannot explain.

What can an engineer do when test shows excess loss but not its location?

Standard test equipment measures only the light going in and coming out, so finding the cause can mean dedicated test structures, comparison against simulation, sometimes destructive cross-sectioning, and several design or fab iterations. With Omni-SiPh LightView, near-field optical probes map the light as it travels through the working circuit, at wafer or die level, without damaging it, so the engineer sees the component where light is lost, such as a bend, a splitter, a coupler or a waveguide section.

Does InZiv supply the automated test equipment as well?

No. InZiv's integrated scope is the prober, the probe card and the optical FAU, built in-house. The ATE comes from the customer's ATE supplier as part of the test configuration.

About this article

InZiv publishes this article under its own name and is responsible for its accuracy. Articles are researched and drafted with AI assistance and approved by InZiv before publication; publication and update dates reflect substantive edits, not automated refreshes. Last updated: 2026-11-01